View full sizeTerri Sandu may never get her dog back, but she hopes pet rescue groups in Lorain County better communicate with each other to make it easier for owners of missing pets to find them.Family photo

AVON, Ohio — An Avon family learned a
painful lesson after their dog escaped their yard in December, was captured
five days later by Avon Lake police and then adopted by a new family in
mid-January.

And the dog's owner, Terri
Sandu, who has waged a social media campaign to get her dog back, hopes the
animal rescue community has also learned a lesson and will improve the
communication between Lorain County officials and rescue groups that take in
stray dogs.

Harley, the Rottweiler who
jumped over the fence in his yard Dec. 20 in Avon, was held for six days in
Avon Lake before police signed her over to Love-A-Stray pet rescue.

Love-A-Stray, an
all-volunteer nonprofit group of foster homes, posted notices with a photo of
the Rottweiler on social media and searched missing-pet websites, but didn't
locate anyone looking for their missing dog, director Connie Field said.

After spending $115 at a
veterinary clinic to vaccinate and microchip the spayed female and test for
parasites, then $200 to have the dog leash trained, socialized and house
broken, Love-A-Stray received a $200 donation Jan. 8 from the family that
adopted the dog, now named Holly.

On Jan. 12, the Sandu family called
Love-A-Stray, after a friend had spotted one of Love-A-Stray's social media
postings about the dog found in Avon Lake. By then, it was too late for the
Avon family to reclaim their dog.

"After
three days, a dog not wearing a dog license is considered to be abandoned and a
police department or county kennel is permitted to dispose of the dog as it
sees fit, including by euthanasia. The City of Avon Lake has generously chosen
to work with no-kill rescues to place unclaimed dogs," Love-A-Stray's attorney,
DanaMarie Pannella, said.

Sandu
"placed one call to the Lorain County Dog Kennel two days after the dog went
missing and did not take advantage of any other available resources to find her
lost pet," Pannella said.

"Once the
dog was adopted, Love-A-Stray no longer had any legal right to the dog to
return it to the previous owner. As a courtesy, Love-A-Stray did discuss the
situation with the dog's new owner, but they were not willing to surrender the
dog. "

Pannella
says that it's crucial that people who adopt from a shelter or rescue group
"feel secure in knowing that their adopted dog legally belongs to them. And, on
the other hand, pet owners have a duty to license their dogs, ensure that they
are wearing a dog tag at all times and conduct a thorough search for their lost
pets."

Sandu, who
said Harley was wearing a collar and tag the day she escaped, regrets that she didn't
turn to the Internet in her immediate search for her dog.

"I called
the county kennel, where I thought all lost dogs had to go. I think most people
would start there in their search, because how would they know about the other
groups out there?" Sandu said. "I hope now that this has happened, every group
and police department that takes in dogs in this county communicates with that
central location -- the county kennel -- so people can find their dog by contacting
the one place they would know to call."

That
improved communication between pet rescue agencies in the county, if it
happens, might be Sandu's only consolation, since the law isn't on her side.
And it might prevent the hard-working volunteer rescuers from sleepless nights.

"This has
been a nightmare after all my years of rescuing dogs and finding good homes for
them," Field said. "Love-A-Stray places about 220 dogs a year, and this has
never happened because we try so hard, between our full-time jobs, to reunite
lost dogs with their owners before we offer them for adoption."

Anyone who
loses a dog is advised to call every police department and animal group in the
immediate area and use keywords to search the Internet. One call to a county
pound is not enough -- but that needs to change, Sandu said, and not only in
Lorain County, but every county.

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